The United States on Monday requested a debate at the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of crimes against humanity, reported by the United Nations in an August 31 publication.
According to the AFP agency, which had access to the document, the project proposes discussion at the 52nd session of the Council, which will take place in the first quarter of next year. The text is also signed by the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway. The resolution will be put to a vote by the 47 members of the Council between the 6th and 7th of October.
China is accused by Western countries and human rights organizations of having detained more than a million Uighurs and other members of Muslim minorities in concentration camps in Xinjiang.
The report noted that “allegations of patterns of torture or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.”
The Chinese, for their part, deny the accusations and speak of “the UN’s complicity with the United States and the West”.
“We are not afraid,” Xu Guixian, communications director for Xinjiang, said last week. He also warned that his country “will take the necessary countermeasures”.
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